1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vial having internally divided chambers that dispense through separate outlets, and more particularly to a heat sealable nebulizer vial design that allows for separated storage of multiple solutions while providing a single opener to access outlets of the multiple chambers for dispensing the solutions from the vial.
2. Description of Related Art
Multiple chambered vials have been utilized to dispense separately housed solutions. U.S. Pat. No. 6,247,617 shows one such design with a rather intriguing neck design. This design dispenses two liquids angularly toward one another. In this design, the separated chambers cannot be mixed together internal to the vial structure since the outlets are spaced apart from one another on external portions of the vial. A single operator, or key is utilized to expose the two outlets for dispensing the solutions.
Other multiple chambered vial designs are shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,224,640, 3,227,319, 4,687,663, and 5,897,833. These designs also have separate chambers for storing solutions therein. Some dispense from a single outlet, others dispense from multiple outlets of various configurations. Syringes have also been devised to dispense two solutions via a single container as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,166,221 and 5,752,499.
None of the prior art vials are configured to be pharmacist filled, i.e., they are not provided with an opening for filling the chambers of the vials with liquid, and then resealing similar to those shown in U.S. Design Pat. No. D456,507 owned by the applicant.
Accordingly, a need exists for an improved vial design.
It is an object of the invention to provide a multiple chambered vial having a reliable key structure to expose multiple openings for dispensing solutions from the chambers.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a vial having internally separated chambers having an internal twisting structure to direct solution through the outlets.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a heat sealable vial with internally divided chambers.
Accordingly, a vial of the presently preferred embodiment is comprised of housing having a cavity therein internally divided into a plurality of, preferably two, chambers. The chambers are separated by a baffle which prevents communication of the solutions in the vial. A first end of the housing is preferably provided open for filling the vials by a pharmacist. The second end of the housing has spaced apart outlets which correspond in number to the number of internal chambers. The outlets are preferably coplanar with one another and preferably positioned to be perpendicular to an axis extending a length of the housing. The internal chambers, while symmetric about an axis extending along the length of the housing through the center of housing, are preferably somewhat overlapping which is believed to assist in the dispensing of fluid. Specifically, a cross section of the housing is preferably characterized by opposed parallel walls connected by symmetric curved portions. Although the shape is truly not elliptical, elliptical is utilized throughout this document to include this geometry. The baffle is preferably a planar structure which extends through the center of the axes of the cross section of the ellipse, but is not coplanar with either of the two axes of the ellipse. Since a user will normally depress the sides of the housing along the shorter of the ellipse axes (i.e., the parallel walls), the offset angular relationship of the baffle during the squeezing of the tube is believed to assist in the dispensing of the liquid from the chambers.
On exterior portions of the housing are outlets initially closed by a single key member. By removing the key, the outlets are opened for dispensing solution therefrom. Caps which secure each of the respective outlets form a portion of the key. Additionally, wings extend from the housing to connect multiple vials together to assist a pharmacist in filling multiple vials in a single filling operation.